The Byzantine Empire. By C. W. C. Oman, M.A. (T.
Fisher Unwin.)—This is an excellent book, though a little hurried towards the end, doubtless from want of spice. The last chapter is entitled "The End of a Long Tale," and crowds the events of eighty-three years into less than a fourth of that number of pages. Doubtless the " tale " is "long," but the end is at least as interesting as any part, and the last siege of Constantinople might well have been described at more length. As it happens, no period in the whole eleven centuries is so well known to us from contemporary authorities. However, books must have limits. On the whole, Mr. Oman preserves the due proportion very well, and has done the compressing process satisfactorily. He vindi- cates, we see, the character of the " nation " whose story he tells, and not without success. Still, when all has been said, the Byzantine history leaves an impression of meanness. In the apology for the defeat of the East Roman forces by the Arabs, we see it stated that these same Arab warriors "broke into a British square." We may remark that it was not a square, in the strict sense, that was broken into. The age of Justinian II., at his suc- cession, is variously stated on two successive pages as " sixteen " and "seventeen."
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